1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ink jet printing method.
2. Related Art
Solvent-based pigment ink has been used for non-ink-absorbing recording media, such as a poly(vinyl chloride) substrate. Although solvent-based pigment ink has excellent drying characteristics and is resistant to water, volatilization of solvents during the formation of an image on a recording medium causes malodor and toxicological problems. From the standpoints of safety and environmental protection, aqueous ink is becoming increasingly common also for non-ink-absorbing and low ink-absorbing recording media.
The following patent documents describe some methods for forming images on non-ink-absorbing or low ink-absorbing recording media by ink jet printing using aqueous ink. JP-A-2000-44858 discloses a method for printing images on a hydrophobic surface using an ink that contains water, a glycol solvent, an insoluble colorant, a polymer dispersant, a silicon or fluorinated surfactant, a water-insoluble graft copolymer binder, and N-methylpyrrolidone. JP-A-2005-220352 discloses an aqueous ink jet ink containing polymer colloid to be applied to nonporous substrates. The aqueous ink jet ink contains an aqueous liquid vehicle containing a volatile cosolvent having a boiling point of 285° C. or less, acid functional polymer colloid particles, and a pigment colorant.
However, images formed on non-ink-absorbing or low ink-absorbing recording media with previously devised aqueous ink have insufficient abrasion resistance. Thus, there is a demand for an ink jet printing method by which abrasion-resistant images can be formed. Furthermore, because previously devised inks contain large amounts of solvents having relatively high boiling points, the inks may dry slowly, and the printing speed cannot be increased.